Windows 10 Mobile

A piece of software is dead when its creator says it's dead. It is really dead when its creator no longer wants to push updates for it. That is the situation that Windows 10 Mobile holdouts are finding themselves in when Windows Insider Senior Program Manager Brandon LeBlanc revealed that no insider builds for the Windows 10 Mobile are coming, signaling that the end is nigh, if it isn't here yet, for a mobile platform that has long been considered dead by the market anyway.

There's no use crying over spilled milk, as the saying goes. There are, however, some milk you really can't help but cry over. Such is the case for Surface Phone hopefuls who are constantly reminded of what could have been. The latest wound to be inflicted on them is a video of an alleged Lumia prototype, codenamed the Lumia Hapanero. Like the elusive Surface Phone, the device showed some crude Surface Pen support, further reinforcing the theory, and the tragedy, of how Microsoft came so close to fulfilling that geek dream.

Here’s another one for the “things Microsoft should and could have done but didn’t” files. It wasn’t too long ago that there rumors and leaks of abandoned plans for a Windows 10 Mobile Lumia phone that could have become the Surface Phone that Windows fans have been dying to have. Unfortunately, that possibility no longer seems to even be on the table, with Microsoft’s practically backing out of even Windows 10 Mobile. Almost to add insult to injury, a new video of an old prototype has surfaced, showing off working Surface Pen integration on a Lumia phone.

Windows 10 Mobile is dead, at least practically and as far as Microsoft is concerned. Apparently, UK phone maker Wileyfox didn’t get the memo. Granted, it showed off its Wileyfox Pro back in IFA 2017, so there may not have been enough time to turn around. Instead of cutting their losses, Wileyfox seems to be intent on selling the the Wileyfox Pro in two weeks’ time, making it one of the most underwhelming and most belated Windows 10 Mobile phone to date.

Talk about beating a dead horse. The HP Elite x3 is practically what the Surface Phone should have been, at least in terms of features and specs. It wasn’t perfect but it definitely deserved a follow-up. HP, however, says that will never come to pass, thanks to Microsoft reversing directions and practically abandoning Windows 10 Mobile. Imagine people’s surprise, then, when HP put the Elite x3 up for sale again, this time compatible with Verizon’s network, a good year after the device was launched.

You have to give Microsoft some props. While it practically announced that Windows 10 Mobile and its previous incarnations are dead, it isn’t yet totally abandoning its existing users completely. In fact, it has just made available a new tool that makes it easier to keep Windows phone devices up to date. At least for the extremely few Windows phone devices left that can run the extremely few Windows 10 Mobile releases left.

Back in July of 2017 we declared Windows Phone dead - but it seemed like we might have been just a hair too early. In reality, there was a bit more software that needed dragging out. Now, here in October of 2017, Microsoft VP for Windows Joe Belfiore just confirmed it. Not the death of the platform, but the death of the future of the platform - which, it turns out, is a bit more important than just your regular, everyday ol' death.

Still holding out for the elusive and mythical Surface Phone? If you still haven't seen the writing on the wall, this is practically the nail in Windows 10 Mobile's coffin. Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's very own veep for Windows, confirms on Twitter that "building new features/hw aren't the focus" anymore, as far as Windows 10 Mobile and Microsoft is concerned. Short of an official statement that may never come, this tweet practically means what almost everyone knew all along: Windows on mobile is dead.

It's not exactly a good day for Windows 10 Mobile, formerly Windows Phone. Not that it had that much good days anyway. Microsoft's mobile platform has very few staunch allies left, but you can definitely count some of the company's most public faces out. Former CEO Bill Gates just publicly admitted that he is currently using a still unidentified Android phone. Meanwhile, current CEO Satya Nadella, for the first time, confirmed that he indeed voted against Ballmer's unpopular, and ultimately doomed, move to acquire Nokia.

In an ideal world, all that software updates do should be to improve users’ experience, either by adding new features or removing erroneous ones. In the real world, however, some bugs manage to creep in. And in some cases, they can be so terrible that they deserve more than just silence from software vendors. That’s the position the remaining few Windows 10 Mobile users are finding themselves in. The latest update to the nearly abandoned mobile platform apparently broke GPS tracking in some apps, including popular fitness apps like Runtastic.

This close to the expected launch of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you’d expect Microsoft to be focused more on polishing and bug fixing. While that’s generally true, that hasn’t stopped ol’ Redmond from pushing out new features to its Insider testers. The latest 16251 build for PCs and 15235 for mobile has an unexpected surprise for mobile users. Yes, even Windows 10 Mobile, though it’s not as exciting as you might think.

If you had any fantasies of running a "regular" Windows 10 stack on your phone, Microsoft just dashed them. Not that it was a completely viable dream anyway, even with Windows 10 on ARM almost in full swing. Microsoft's own Joe Belfiore confirms that phones, if there will ever be new ones, will be running Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 Mobile only. Which also implies that Windows 10 Mobile isn't going anywhere, at least for now.